Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Jacqueline and George are each in their second marriages; his first wife died, her husband deserted her. They are both very happy, and George, wealthy owner of a factory, has purchased a huge Victorian home that is just too large for Jacqueline to manage. Most of the children have left home except for Giles, Jacqueline’s son by her first marriage, a brilliant troubled eccentric, brilliant who hates living in the country, and Melinda, George’s youngest daughter, whom Giles has an incestuous passion for, envisioning her as the wasted tubercular love of his life. In order to lighten Jacqueline’s workload, George decides to hire a housekeeper, and Jacqueline is delighted to discover Eunice Parchman, who even addresses her as “madam.” Eunice, who fudges her references, turns out to be the ideal housekeeper with one exception: she cannot read, and it is this little detail that leads her to eventually kill the entire family. Not that they didn’t try to make her happy. Eunice had her own bedroom and the old telly, and a well-sprung bed; after all, they wanted her to be content and to stay. But they never considered her as a person. They knew nothing of her background, never asked, and if they had, they probably would not have believed it. That she could have attended school without having become literate and learned to love opera. Heavens! Ironically, it’s Melinda’s attempt to learn the truth that initiates the catastrophe.
This is an effective but slightly weird book. It reads more like a true crime account than a novel. The end is revealed from the start and whilst the journey to get to it is interesting, it does lack some tension.
The study of characters is great though, all the people in the book feel utterly real and the interplay between them is fascinating. It makes for an interesting take on class in the UK and adds to the richness of the novel.
The study of characters is great though, all the people in the book feel utterly real and the interplay between them is fascinating. It makes for an interesting take on class in the UK and adds to the richness of the novel.
Since I liked the last RR book I read so much I went for another one--liked it very much as well! Again, this isn't a classic mystery who-dunnit. In fact, we're told who dunnit in the very first sentence and why. The story is more about watching the slow-motion train collision that is the relationship between Eunice, an illiterate, unfeeling cleaning woman and her bright, sophisticated, hyper-educated middle class employers. The kind of people who pin up quotes of the day, study Greek as teenagers for fun and take notes while watching opera because they know the score by heart. Add to this mix another perverse criminal, this one unfortunately converted to a Christian sect, and things were never going to end well.
The story, of course, is in the different personalities and how they all fit together--or don't.
The story, of course, is in the different personalities and how they all fit together--or don't.
I read this in January but am reviewing in August, so this should be fun.
A family is murdered in their home by their illiterate housekeeper, after one of the family members, Melinda (?) discovers her dark secret. Melinda is generally a good egg and becomes curious about their seemingly perfect-in-a-robotic-slash-sociopathic-way housekeeper, Eunice, with that awkward, condescending, of-the-people attitude that rich people adopt once they read about socialism and stuff. In Melinda's misguided attempt to learn more about Eunice, Melinda learns Eunice's monstrous secret - she cannot read! Eunice is sensitive about this issue, which is understandable, I suppose, but instead of doing something normal like quitting her job in a haze of embarrassment, or just fessing up and asking Melinda to help her learn to read, she kills everyone in the house instead. There was some other random woman involved who helped her murder everyone but I can't remember the details - did she turn on her and kill her, too?
Ruth Rendell is well-regarded as one of the best English mystery novelists, but this is the third book I've read by her and I find her very blah. Perhaps I am not deep / smart enough to understand all the psychological underpinnings and the examinations into the human psyche or whatever, but when reading her, I find myself sighing and wishing people would just Get Over It. This may mean I am failing as a human being, but I had no sympathy for Eunice and her predicament. However, I did learn an important lesson: Never befriend poor people because they will just murder you and your entire family.
A family is murdered in their home by their illiterate housekeeper, after one of the family members, Melinda (?) discovers her dark secret. Melinda is generally a good egg and becomes curious about their seemingly perfect-in-a-robotic-slash-sociopathic-way housekeeper, Eunice, with that awkward, condescending, of-the-people attitude that rich people adopt once they read about socialism and stuff. In Melinda's misguided attempt to learn more about Eunice, Melinda learns Eunice's monstrous secret - she cannot read! Eunice is sensitive about this issue, which is understandable, I suppose, but instead of doing something normal like quitting her job in a haze of embarrassment, or just fessing up and asking Melinda to help her learn to read, she kills everyone in the house instead. There was some other random woman involved who helped her murder everyone but I can't remember the details - did she turn on her and kill her, too?
Ruth Rendell is well-regarded as one of the best English mystery novelists, but this is the third book I've read by her and I find her very blah. Perhaps I am not deep / smart enough to understand all the psychological underpinnings and the examinations into the human psyche or whatever, but when reading her, I find myself sighing and wishing people would just Get Over It. This may mean I am failing as a human being, but I had no sympathy for Eunice and her predicament. However, I did learn an important lesson: Never befriend poor people because they will just murder you and your entire family.
I recently re-watched the French film La Ceremonie (after first seeing it 21 years ago). I hadn't realized it was based on this Ruth Rendell book. Maybe because the film was so fresh in my mind, and because I liked it so much, this book felt a bit bland. It gives away the ending immediately, which is fine for a novel, whereas in the film it was a shock. And it's hard to erase the performances of Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert from my mind when reading the book. Aside from that, the book does provide a good character study of two deeply disturbed women and the class differences that escalate the tragedy. Overall, it's well-written but not as compelling as I'd hoped.
I cannot stand this book... it’s awful and just cheap and nasty... I don’t know whether I am looking in too deep but I feel that the author has a distaste for people with illiteracy and for some god knows reason thinks yes people who can’t read are more likely to kill someone or be a serial killer or what have you. Gahh I am sorry but I feel she also has a thing for people who now would be classed as learning disabilities but instead she uses disturbed and not normal for the main characters son.... this is written by someone who seems to have a fear of or has read some horrible false tales and just thought this would make money. Awful will never read any of her books horrible woman
Ruth Rendell really improves the mystery-thriller style of writing. In this book she starts the story showing the murderer at the beginning of the plot.
Nothing is added by expanding what would have been a six-seven inch newspaper report to about 200 pages. Characters are tediously one-dimensional.
Illiteracy. Sociopathy. Psychological. Country house. Tension.